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DANIEL PETER-S AND ROBERT WILLIAMSS OF KEOKUK, IOWA.

i Letters Patent No. 69,696, dated October 8, 1867.

IMPROVED LINE-HOLDER.

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TO ALL WHOMITVMAY CONCERN:

Be it known that we, DANIEL PETEns and ROBERT F. WILLIAMS, of Keokuk, in the county of Lee, and State of Iowa, have invented a new and improved Line-Holder; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying` drawings, making a part of' this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a. perspective view of the improved line-holder.

Figure lisa front view.

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view.

Figure 4 is a view of the back part of the line-holder.-

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

The object of this invention is to providea simple device, by means of which a clothes-line or any other line can be convenientlyfastened and held under tension, without tying it, as heretofore practised; said device consisting of a forked levepi clamp, .which is so constructed and applied to a fixed object, that when a line is drawn tight upon it, this line will be held firmly by itslown recoil or retraction, as will be hereinafter described.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand our invention, we will describe its construction and operation.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents a forked plate, having holes throughit, which are countersunk for receiving screws, by which it can be rigidly secured to a wall, fence, side of a building, or other fixed object to which itis desired to'fasten a. clothesV or other line. This forked plate A is constructed with depressions a a in it, which form receptacles and bearings for two gudgeons b b, which are formed on a lever clamp, B, as shown i'ngs. 3 and 4. The lever clamp is a short piece of metal, pivoted,ns above stated, to plate A, and constructed with a fork, c, on its long arm, and a T head, CZ, on its short arm. The fork c is made so as to receive over or between its ends a rope or line, as shown in g. 1, and the T-hcad d is curved so as to receive a rope between it and the face of plate A, and firmly clamp and hold this rope. At the ends of the cross-head or clamp d two projections e are formed upon 'the edges of the plate A, so as to serve as stops or guards for pre'd venting the rope from slipping sideiivise out'of place when confined by said cross-head. Instead of having the lips or guards formed on plate A, they may be formed on the ends of the cross-head, so as to pass over the edgesy of the plate A. In tig. 1 we have shown the manner of Yapplying arope to the clamp, wherein it will be seen that the rope is drawn over the forked end e of lever B, and passed between the cross-head d and its plate A.

The tension on the rope, acting upon the long arm of said lever B, will cause the short arm of this lever to press tightly upon the rope and hold it-fast. Thus it will be seen that the tighter the line is drawn the more secure will it be clamped. i

Having described our invention, what we claim as new,.and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The lever B, with a cross-head, d, and a crotch c, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The bracket A, with its lugs e e, substantially in the manner and for the purpose described.

3. The arrangement of the lever B, so that the line may be passed between its cross-head and the plate, und also through the crotch c, substantially` in the manner described.l

4. The manner, substantially as described, of constructingjr the bracket-plate A with a socket bearing a, and the lever B, with a pivot, bu, so that these parts may be connected together without any auxiliary device, (such as a rivet or detached pin,) as sct forth.

` y DANIEL PETERS,

ROBT. F. WILLIAMS.

Witnesses:

LORENZO CHAPIN, J. E. Donn. 

